Since Wendy and I first travelled into China in 2005 and then in 2007, we have yearned for more. We then went to India and Thailand in 2009. This whet the appetite for more of Asia. In planning our next trip to Asia, we didn't want to be constrained by time but of course this can never be. We have allocated ourselves 8 weeks to do a little bit of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China and Tibet. This cannot be done properly in 8 weeks (more like 8 months)so we have set ourselves a task of seeing what our friends on the www have told us through Travelfish, Worldnomads, Seat 61, Tripadvisor and several other websites that advise on things to do and places to see in Asia. Thank goodness for the web. It was through the web I sourced cheap airfares. It pays to use the web to its full extent. Look at at least 6 cheap flight websites and the airlines websites when looking for airfares. You will be amazed at the difference in pricing and airline selection from website to website. In the end, I booked through www.directflights.com.au this is an Aussie company however it is run by some energetic Vietnamese people who know Asia. I also looked at Jetabroad, Webjet, Flightresults, Flight network and all the individual airline websites. Most are not as user friendly as you would want. Some don't have broken trips, only one way or return. Some seem to promote certain airlines and exclude others. It pays to look around, spend time to research your best options. Timing is a skill I haven't mastered. I was very happy when I was able to book with DirectFlights from Sydney into Singapore and return from Shanghai to Sydney for $1589 for two.I did this on 9th September 2011 for travel in March 2012. I thought by booking that far out, I would get the best price. Not so.
In December 2011 I looked again at the fares I could get and the price came down about AU$50 each whereas I also looked in early February and the prices went up AU$200. Its a case of being happy at time our your booking. Sometimes waiting can be beneficial, sometime not.
At the end of the day, if you are not comfortable doing it this way. find yourself a good travel agency.
http://www.travelfish.org/ is one of the best site I've found for information on travel in Asia. Its run by Stuart McDonald and his wife who sometimes reside in Hornsby (Sydney), thats when they are not galavanting around Asia. It contains all manner of advice on all things you need to know about asia, although it dosen't go into Myanmar,China, Japan or Korea but I suppose you have to stop somewhere. It caters for the backpacker and those with a bit more money.
Also, http://www.talesofasia.com/index.htm is an excellent site with no-nonsense help and guidance although the information is somewhat dated in parts.
Also, https://www.worldnomads.com is another good site. I am using that site to blog our travels. It caters to the broader traveller.
The airfares and the first three nights accomodation in Singapore are the only things we have booked before departure. The rest will be done on the road as we feel like it. We are booked into the Fernloft City Backpackers in Chinatown Singapore for our first three nights. This is a backpacker hostel with good reviews.
We stay in packpacking hostels or accomdaton booked through them for a number of reasons. The first one being, you can get very good accomodation at very reasonable prices. You need to do your homework on the hostels before you book. Hostelworld http://www.hostelworld.com/ is not our preferred way of booking however their website is comprehensive and gives good desciptions of the accomodation and most important are the reveiws given by fellow travellers. You need to sort out the genuine traveller from the whinger to give you good feedback on prospective accomodation. Hostelworld are very good but may not always have the best on offer. You soon learn. We also use www.tripadvisor.com.au to do further research on accomodation and things to do and see wherever we are. Asiaweb and Agoda also offer good accomodation. We've only had problems with one of our bookings over the years. That one was in Wuhan China. It wasn't their fault, we just couldn't find it. One cabby just dropped us where he thought it might be and drove off. In the end we asked a cabby to take us to the nearest fandian. He did and it was great. We have had some memorable overnight stays, the most memorable being at the Belltower International Hostel in Xian China. We had a corner room that overlooked the BellTower and the roundabout that goes around it. The traffic around the roundabout is horrendous. One wag had written on a wall in the hostel that everyone should test their courage by going around the roundabout at least once, with their eyes open. They didn't think most of the drivers did.
Another reason for using backpacker accomodation is you meet other travellers from all around the world. You can learn from them, and they you. Many a good excursion is found by talking with fellow travellers. The other reason is the tours the Hostels can arrange. You will find they can arrange better and cheaper day tours and trips than those organised by fancy motels. A prime example of this is when we first went to China. We booked into a 5 star timeshare swap in a place called Miyun, about two hours drive north of Beijing. The Motel was oppulent, more grand than anything I've seen in Australia. It had everything, including its own 10 pin bowling alley. We decided we wanted to see the Great Wall. After a few language obstacles, through the Motel, we finally booked a day tour with our own driver in an old car, which cost about AU$120 for the day. We thought this reasonable for a private tour. The driver didn't speak English, hence no commentary and very little interaction so we were basically on our own. It was a magical trip, some of which was spent on the wrong side of the road trying to overtake supposedly slower vehicles. Road rules in China are only a guide, as are pedestrian crossing signals.
The unguided walk on 'The Wall' was spectacular. In the following days, whilst just walking the streets, we found out the locals would have done the same tour for about AU$30 for the day. So much for booking through high priced motels.
The other reason for using Hostelworld is they don't necessarily only give you Hostels. We booked the Umaid Mahal in Jaipur India http://www.umaidmahal.com/index.htm through Hostelworld and it turned out to be a very well appointed Motel with all the trimmings. It was the same price as some of the backpacker hostels. The Australian Cricket team had stayed there in years gone by.
